Tampa passion play

Site Selection magazine editor and writer Ron Starner, with columns and stories that reach corporate executives considering moving their companies, is the type of person economic development officials want to impress.

And in a fall visit to Tampa — something of a homecoming for the Ohio native who grew up mostly in Clearwater — Starner met with a bevy of area economic development officials. Starner was part of a group of national site selection industry writers and officials who toured Tampa. Starner graduated from USF in 1996 and moved out of the region soon after. He's been an editor and executive with Atlanta-based Conway, parent company of Site Selection magazine, for more than 15 years.

Starner, who says he often visits cities with new economic development leadership or regions pursuing an aggressive marketing strategy, was blown away by the progress Tampa has made in the past two decades. In a widely re-tweeted January article from Site Selection magazine, Starner writes that he “discovered an oasis of surging capitalism and entrepreneurs” in Tampa. His report focused on the top 10 things he learned about the region. Highlights include: